Everything Old Is New Again #723: JBL’s L100 Speaker Systems

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Sep 18, 2018Scott James

Almost fifty years ago, the James B. Lansing outfit released its soon-to-be-iconic L-100 home speaker systems, which were based on the killer 4310 Pro Studio monitors (I can’t recall working in a radio station over the past 30 years or so which didn’t have at least a couple 4310s). They had awe-inspiring sound quality for a fairly decent price, doing especially well with rock music, and their black, blue, or orange Quadrex foam grilles — which absolutely shrieked 70s cool — were the fashionable icing on the cake which helped them become the best selling speaker systems of the 70s.

JBL has now resurrected them in the form of the L-100 Classic, but they’re a tad more expensive than they were back then: $US4,000 a pair — although as nearly as I can determine, that’s about the same as their 1970 cost when inflation is factored in. A quick Bing search turns up a few of them for sale on various online souks for about a grand a pair; it would be interesting to hear an A/B test between the old and new models.

The Stuff:

Retro design with iconic JBL styling and vintage Quadrex foam grille in a choice of three colors: black, orange or blue